Some Items We Refuse to Cut as We Get Gazelle Intense

My husband and I have gotten gazelle intense with our debt repayment, and we are looking to slash where ever we can. However, there are some areas that others may consider cutting that we refuse to touch. One of those areas is life insurance. Just a few months after our son was born, we bought life insurance for both of us. It costs $78 a month, and yes, that would be a nice amount to snowflake on our debt, but we refuse.

When I was 15, my dad died. He had a very small life insurance policy, but it would have been helpful if it had been more than 2x his salary. People never want to think that they will die, especially that they will die young, but unfortunately it happens. My dad had just turned 38 when he died. I know it can happen, and I will gladly put up with our debt a bit longer as a trade off for financial security if something happens to me or my husband.

Having said that, there are some ways you can make your life insurance more affordable:

-See if you can bundle it with your other insurance through one company. If you can get your life insurance, car insurance and homeowners’ insurance through the same company, you will receive a good discount for bundling your policies. Call around for car insurance quotes, and then ask about your other insurance policies. However, before you cancel your old policy, make sure you are covered by your new policy first.

-Renegotiate your rates. If you were overweight or a smoker when you first obtained life insurance and you have since reformed your ways, call your insurance company to ask for a new life insurance quote. They may lower your rates to reflect your lower risk now that you are healthier.

-Make payments annually. Our life insurance payment is taken from our checking account monthly, but I know we are paying a convenience fee for this. I have it on my to do list to call and change our payments to annual payments. That will save us a few dollars a month in convenience charges.

No matter how desperately we want to pay off our debt, we refuse to compromise our life insurance protection. However, we plan to lower that cost overall by eliminating convenience fees. Those few dollars at least can be added to our debt snowball monthly.

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My employer offers life insurance, so for as long as I’m employed there, we have coverage for everybody in the family. I did some checking with my insurance company to see if the rates were comparable, and what I pay through payroll deductions is probably 50% cheaper than what I would pay even with a bundled discount. Obviously, if I were to switch jobs or lose my job I would have to make provisions, but for as long as I’m employed, this is a nice perk. Hopefully one that won’t be needed!

That is a good deal if you plan to stay there permanently. The only thing I would worry about would be rates going up if you had to get life insurance somewhere else at an older age if you left that employer.

I suggest that you also have life insurance on your children. Who thinks a child is going to die? My 5 year old died 3 months ago. I’m so thankful that when she was born we bought a Gerber policy on her. It’s $35 a year for $5000 coverage. Which totally covered her funeral costs and left a little at the end. We also (unknowingly) had a rider on our major life insurance policies that covers both of our children for very little extra a month. No one plans on being in a situation like this. But thankfully, we had planned ahead 5 years ago. After going through this, I strongly recommend that you have/keep life insurance.

Depending on your age and how long you plan to keep insurance, an individual whole life policy might be something to look into. If you get term insurance, make sure it is renewable and not based on your age and health.

I’m pro whole life. Enough to cover funeral costs is all that is needed and get it the earlier the better to lock in the lowest premium. You can use term insurance to fill out the rest of your needs as your life changes.

Whole life insurance is good, primarily, for insurance salespeople. You can get many times the coverage, with term insurance, for much less money. You need good coverage until your children are on their own.

Welcome to Mom’s Plans! I'm a mom to three kids, ages 9, 5 and 3, and I love to plan, hence the blog name. Right now, I'm busy planning our homeschooling days, our healthy eating meal plans, and our budget as we dig our way out of student loan debt and save for a house! Read More…